Research Article
BibTex RIS Cite

The Intercessory Role of the Prophet and the Holy Family through the Concept of the hawd al-kawthar: A Critical study of Mahmoud Ayoub’s Thoughts

Year 2022, Volume: 4 Issue: 1, 33 - 49, 30.06.2022
https://doi.org/10.48203/siader.1021440

Abstract

Mahmoud M. Ayoub has developed an Islamic model of redemption in his works particularly in the Redemptive Suffering in Islam. Assuming that redemption is fulfillment through suffering, Ayoub has proposed an alternative Islamic model of redemption within the context of intercession (shafā’ah) in Twelver Shī’īsm. In his opinion, intercession is the direct reward of the sufferings and martyrdom of the Holy Family (ahl al-bayt) so they can rescue their devotees from the hell and the God’s punishment by this intercessory prerogative. The pool of al-kawthar, In the Mahmoud Ayoub’s model of redemption in Shī’īsm, is a symbol of the rewards and favors of the Holy Family and the final vindication of their suffering. This article criticizes Mahmoud Ayoub’s thoughts about the exclusive connection between the intercession and suffering in Shī’īsm and argues that the intercessory privilege of the Prophet and the Holy Family is because of their high status before God which was stabilized even without their sufferings, however those sufferings and privations have strengthened their high ranking position. It means that God will never reject any requests of the Prophet and the Holy Family including their intercession not just because of their endurance of sufferings and martyrdom, but because of God’s love and respect towards them which has several reasons. Thus, the intercessory prerogative of the Prophet and the Holy Family in the Day of Judgment is an expression of the God’s feelings towards the Prophet and the Holy Family and the demonstration of their high status to the entire creatures. Besides that, intercession’s second purpose, which Mahmoud Ayoub also agrees, is God’s favor in order to benefit those who have led a good life but the amount of their evil deeds is more than the level of their good deeds and deserve to be punished. Finally, this article offers that, based on the second purpose of intercession, the merciful and compassionate God in the Twelver Shī’īsm however is not a passible God, but may have some similarities to what Christianity depicts of a sympathetic, passible God who suffers from the suffering of the people, especially in the works of Jürgen Moltmann.

References

  • Allāmah al-Hillī, al-Hasan ibn Yūsuf ibn al-Mūtahhar. Nahj al-Haq wa Kashf al-Sīdq. Qum: Manshūrāt Maktabah Basiratī, 1395 A.H.
  • Allāmah al-Majlisī, Muhammad Bāqir, Biḥār al-ʾanwār al-jāmiʿat li-durar ʾakhbār al-ʾAʾimmat al-ʾAṫhār, Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Wafāʾ, 1983.
  • al-Bukhārī, Muhammad ibn Ismā‘īl, Sahīh al-Bukhārī, Damascus and Beirut, Dār Ibn Kathīr, 2002.
  • al-Khwarizmi, al-Mūwaffaq b. Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Malikī, Maqtal al-Husayn, Qum: Anwār al-Huda, 2002.
  • al-Mūzaffar, Muhammad Hasan, Dalail al-sidq li-nahj al-haqq, Qum: Manshūrāt Maktabah Basiratī, 1395 A.H.
  • al-Muttaqi al-Hindi ,‘Alā al-Din ‘Ali ibn ‘Abd-al-Malik Husam al-Din, Kanz al-‘Ummāl , Beirut: Mu’asisah al-Risalah, 1981.
  • al-Tūsi, Shaykh Abū Ja’far Mubammad b. al-Hasan, Kitab al-Amāli, ed. Mubammad Sādiq Babr al-'Ulum, Baghdad: al-Maktabah al-Ahliyyah, 1964.
  • Bauckham, Richard, Moltmann’s Eschatology of the Cross, Scottish Journal of Theology 30, no. 4 (1977).
  • Fazl ibn Ruzbahān, Ibtal Nahj al-Batīl wa Ihmal Kashf al-Atīl, Qum: Manshūrāt Maktabah Basiratī, 1395 A.H.
  • G. Ruffle, Karen, May Fātimah Gather Our Tears: The Mystical and Intercessory Powers of Fātimah al-Zahra in Indo-Persian, Shī’ī Devotional Literature and Performance, Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 30 (2010).
  • Hindi, Sayyid Reza, al-Qasidah al-Kawthariah, Qum: al-Muaveniyyah al-Thiqafiah li-Majma’ al-Alami li-Ahl al-Bayt, 1997.
  • Ibn Mājah, Abū ʻAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Yazīd Ibn Mājah al-Rabʻī al-Qazwīnī, Sunan Ibn Mājah, Beirut: Dār al-Ma’rifah, 1988.
  • Ibn Qūlawayh, Abū'l-Qasem Ja'Far b. Moḥammad b. Jaʿfar, Kāmil al-Ziyarat, Najaf: Dār al-murtazawi’ah, 1977.
  • Isfahani, Raghib, Mufradat al-Rāqib al-Isfahani: with al-Amoli’s Reflections, Dār al-Ma’rūf li-Tiba’ah wa al-Nashr, 2012.
  • M. Ayoub, Mahmoud, Redemptive Suffering in Islam: A Study of the Devotional Aspects of in Twelver Shī’īsm, The Hague in the Netherlands: Mouton Publishers, 1978.
  • M. Ayoub, Mahmoud, A Muslim View Of Christianity: Essays on Dialogue, Edited by Irfan A. Omar, New York: Orbis Books, 2007.
  • Moltmann, Jürgen, Theology of Hope: On the Ground and the Implications of a Christian Eschatology, New York and Evanston: Harper & Row [released by www.religion-online.org], 1965.
  • Moltmann, Jürgen, The Crucified God: The Cross of Christ As the Foundation and Criticism of Christian Theology, Translated by R. A. Wilson and John Bowden from the German, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993.
  • Ratzinger, Joseph ( The Interdicasterial Commission appointed by Pope John Paul II, presided over by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger), Catechism of the Catholic Church, United States Catholic Conference: Inc.-Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Second Edition, 1997, 1.
  • Shaykh al-Sadūq, Abū Ja’far Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Babawayh, Man La Yahduruhu al-Faqih, Qum: Mu’assisah al-Nashr al-Islami, 1429 A.H.
  • Shaykh al-Sadūq, Abū Ja’far Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Babawayh, al-Khisāl, Qum: Mu’assisah al-Nashr al-Islami, 1403 A.H.

The Intercessory Role of the Prophet and the Holy Family through the Concept of the hawd al-kawthar: A Critical study of Mahmoud Ayoub’s Thoughts

Year 2022, Volume: 4 Issue: 1, 33 - 49, 30.06.2022
https://doi.org/10.48203/siader.1021440

Abstract

Mahmoud M. Ayoub has developed an Islamic model of redemption in his works particularly in the Redemptive Suffering in Islam. By assuming that redemption is fulfillment through suffering, Ayoub has proposed an alternative Islamic model of redemption within the context of intercession (shafā’ah) in Twelver Shī’īsm. In his opinion, intercession is the direct reward of the sufferings and martyrdom of the Holy Family (ahl al-bayt) so they can rescue their devotees from the hell and the God’s punishment by this intercessory prerogative. The pool of al-kawthar, in Mahmoud Ayoub’s model of redemption in Shī’īsm, is a symbol of the rewards and favors of the Holy Family and the final vindication of their suffering. This article criticizes Mahmoud Ayoub’s thoughts about the exclusive connection between the intercession and suffering in Shī’īsm and argues that the intercessory privilege of the Prophet and the Holy Family is because of their high status before God which was stabilized even without their sufferings, however, those sufferings and privations have strengthened their high-ranking position. It means that God will never reject any requests of the Prophet and the Holy Family including their intercession not just because of their endurance of suffering and martyrdom, but because of God’s love and respect towards them which has several reasons. Thus, the intercessory prerogative of the Prophet and the Holy Family on the Day of Judgment is an expression of God’s feelings towards the Prophet and the Holy Family and demonstrates their high status to the entire creatures. Besides that, intercession’s second purpose, which Mahmoud Ayoub also agrees with, is God’s favor in order to benefit those who have led a good life but the amount of their evil deeds is more than the level of their good deeds and deserve to be punished. Finally, this article offers that, based on the second purpose of intercession, although the merciful and compassionate God in Twelver Shī’īsm is not a passible God, He may have some similarities to what Christianity depicts as a sympathetic, passible God who suffers from the suffering of His people, especially in the works of Jürgen Moltmann.

References

  • Allāmah al-Hillī, al-Hasan ibn Yūsuf ibn al-Mūtahhar. Nahj al-Haq wa Kashf al-Sīdq. Qum: Manshūrāt Maktabah Basiratī, 1395 A.H.
  • Allāmah al-Majlisī, Muhammad Bāqir, Biḥār al-ʾanwār al-jāmiʿat li-durar ʾakhbār al-ʾAʾimmat al-ʾAṫhār, Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Wafāʾ, 1983.
  • al-Bukhārī, Muhammad ibn Ismā‘īl, Sahīh al-Bukhārī, Damascus and Beirut, Dār Ibn Kathīr, 2002.
  • al-Khwarizmi, al-Mūwaffaq b. Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Malikī, Maqtal al-Husayn, Qum: Anwār al-Huda, 2002.
  • al-Mūzaffar, Muhammad Hasan, Dalail al-sidq li-nahj al-haqq, Qum: Manshūrāt Maktabah Basiratī, 1395 A.H.
  • al-Muttaqi al-Hindi ,‘Alā al-Din ‘Ali ibn ‘Abd-al-Malik Husam al-Din, Kanz al-‘Ummāl , Beirut: Mu’asisah al-Risalah, 1981.
  • al-Tūsi, Shaykh Abū Ja’far Mubammad b. al-Hasan, Kitab al-Amāli, ed. Mubammad Sādiq Babr al-'Ulum, Baghdad: al-Maktabah al-Ahliyyah, 1964.
  • Bauckham, Richard, Moltmann’s Eschatology of the Cross, Scottish Journal of Theology 30, no. 4 (1977).
  • Fazl ibn Ruzbahān, Ibtal Nahj al-Batīl wa Ihmal Kashf al-Atīl, Qum: Manshūrāt Maktabah Basiratī, 1395 A.H.
  • G. Ruffle, Karen, May Fātimah Gather Our Tears: The Mystical and Intercessory Powers of Fātimah al-Zahra in Indo-Persian, Shī’ī Devotional Literature and Performance, Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 30 (2010).
  • Hindi, Sayyid Reza, al-Qasidah al-Kawthariah, Qum: al-Muaveniyyah al-Thiqafiah li-Majma’ al-Alami li-Ahl al-Bayt, 1997.
  • Ibn Mājah, Abū ʻAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Yazīd Ibn Mājah al-Rabʻī al-Qazwīnī, Sunan Ibn Mājah, Beirut: Dār al-Ma’rifah, 1988.
  • Ibn Qūlawayh, Abū'l-Qasem Ja'Far b. Moḥammad b. Jaʿfar, Kāmil al-Ziyarat, Najaf: Dār al-murtazawi’ah, 1977.
  • Isfahani, Raghib, Mufradat al-Rāqib al-Isfahani: with al-Amoli’s Reflections, Dār al-Ma’rūf li-Tiba’ah wa al-Nashr, 2012.
  • M. Ayoub, Mahmoud, Redemptive Suffering in Islam: A Study of the Devotional Aspects of in Twelver Shī’īsm, The Hague in the Netherlands: Mouton Publishers, 1978.
  • M. Ayoub, Mahmoud, A Muslim View Of Christianity: Essays on Dialogue, Edited by Irfan A. Omar, New York: Orbis Books, 2007.
  • Moltmann, Jürgen, Theology of Hope: On the Ground and the Implications of a Christian Eschatology, New York and Evanston: Harper & Row [released by www.religion-online.org], 1965.
  • Moltmann, Jürgen, The Crucified God: The Cross of Christ As the Foundation and Criticism of Christian Theology, Translated by R. A. Wilson and John Bowden from the German, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993.
  • Ratzinger, Joseph ( The Interdicasterial Commission appointed by Pope John Paul II, presided over by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger), Catechism of the Catholic Church, United States Catholic Conference: Inc.-Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Second Edition, 1997, 1.
  • Shaykh al-Sadūq, Abū Ja’far Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Babawayh, Man La Yahduruhu al-Faqih, Qum: Mu’assisah al-Nashr al-Islami, 1429 A.H.
  • Shaykh al-Sadūq, Abū Ja’far Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Babawayh, al-Khisāl, Qum: Mu’assisah al-Nashr al-Islami, 1403 A.H.
There are 21 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Religious Studies
Journal Section Research Articles
Authors

Mahdi Moravveji 0000-0001-6333-8381

Early Pub Date June 29, 2022
Publication Date June 30, 2022
Submission Date November 9, 2021
Acceptance Date January 15, 2022
Published in Issue Year 2022 Volume: 4 Issue: 1

Cite

ISNAD Moravveji, Mahdi. “The Intercessory Role of the Prophet and the Holy Family through the Concept of the Hawd Al-Kawthar: A Critical Study of Mahmoud Ayoub’s Thoughts”. Turkish Journal of Shiite Studies 4/1 (June 2022), 33-49. https://doi.org/10.48203/siader.1021440.